You don't get better by writing more of the same. You get better by working one muscle until it stops being hard. Every drill runs on your own material — we never write it for you.
The 12-minute loop
Trains: Starting without negotiating with yourself.
- 1.Set a timer for 12 minutes and put the phone in another room.
- 2.Write the next thing that happens. No scrolling back to fix anything.
- 3.When the timer ends, stop mid-sentence and write tomorrow's first line as a note.
Done when: You have new words and a written first move for the next session.
Enter late, leave early
Trains: Scene compression and turning.
- 1.Take any scene you've written. Delete the first paragraph and the last paragraph.
- 2.Read it again — does it still work? Usually it works better.
- 3.Write one line naming what changed by the end. If nothing changed, the scene is summary.
Done when: You can state the turn in one sentence: they wanted X, now they must Y.
Three distances, one moment
Trains: Point of view control.
- 1.Pick one moment: a character opening a door.
- 2.Write it three times — wide (the town, the street), medium (the body, the hand), close (the thought under it).
- 3.Now write the version that slides from wide to close in one paragraph.
Done when: The last version moves the camera without a jump cut.
Ten titles, one hook
Trains: Finding the repeatable idea before you write verses.
- 1.Write ten possible titles for the feeling you're chasing. Bad ones count.
- 2.Say each out loud. Cross off any that are hard to sing.
- 3.Pick the one you'd still say in an argument. That's your hook line.
Done when: You can sing the hook the same way twice without thinking.
Stress test
Trains: Prosody — words landing where the beat lands.
- 1.Speak your hook naturally and mark which syllable you hit hardest.
- 2.Play the beat and find the strongest beat in the bar.
- 3.Rewrite the line so the hard syllable and the strong beat are the same place.
Done when: Nothing in the line makes you rush or stretch a word to fit.
One job per section
Trains: Structure — stopping sections from doing the same job.
- 1.Write the job of each section in six words: verse, pre, chorus, bridge.
- 2.Highlight any line that does another section's job.
- 3.Move or cut those lines. Rewrite the gap yourself.
Done when: No two sections could swap places without breaking the song.
Logline in one breath
Trains: Concept pressure.
- 1.Fill this: When [event], a [flawed lead] must [goal] before [clock], or [cost].
- 2.Read it out loud in one breath. If you run out of air, cut words.
- 3.Ask: where's the irony? If there's none, you have a situation, not a story.
Done when: A stranger can repeat the logline back after hearing it once.
White space pass
Trains: Format discipline and readability.
- 1.Take three pages. Break every action block longer than four lines.
- 2.Cut every camera direction and every 'we see'.
- 3.Read the page from six feet away — it should look mostly white.
Done when: A reader can move through the page without their eyes slowing down.
Say the other thing
Trains: Subtext.
- 1.Find a line where a character states their feeling.
- 2.Delete it. Write what they'd say instead to avoid saying it.
- 3.Give the other character a line that pretends not to notice.
Done when: The audience knows more than the characters admit.
Define done
Trains: Scoping — finishing instead of drifting.
- 1.Write the finish line as a number: word count, page count, or track count.
- 2.Divide by the weeks you actually have. That's your weekly quota.
- 3.Write the one thing you will cut first when you fall behind.
Done when: You know the date, the number, and the sacrifice.
Read it to the wall
Trains: Ear — catching what the eye forgives.
- 1.Read one page aloud at performance pace, no stopping.
- 2.Mark every place you stumbled. Don't fix them yet.
- 3.Fix only the stumbles. Nothing else this pass.
Done when: You can read the page twice cleanly.
Cut ten percent
Trains: Compression.
- 1.Count the words on one page. Work out ten percent.
- 2.Remove that many words without removing any event.
- 3.Read it back — the page should now move faster and mean the same.
Done when: Nothing is missing except words.
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